A week after a Jet Airways Mumbai-London flight, carrying 330 passengers and 15 crew members, went off the radar for a brief period over Cologne, investigations have reportedly revealed that one of the pilot was asleep, while the other was on the wrong frequency, at the time of mid-flight scare. According to a report published by Times of India, sources have informed that one of the pilots of 9W 118 flight was taking “controlled rest”, while the other was tuned into a wrong frequency and had kept his headset volume to lower levels. The Indian Express could not independently verify the same.

The report says that because of the wrong frequency and lower headset volume levels, the German air traffic control (ATC) was unable to contact the second pilot after the plane went off the radar. “This issue is being probed by the airline and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. At this stage we will not be able to say anything else,” a Jet Airways official was quoted by Times of India.

The report also says that crew of another Jet Airways flight (Delhi-London 9W 122) was contacted by German ATC, which came to its rescue. The 9W 122 flight crew contacted flight operations in India, who used a satellite phone to contact the pilots of 9W 118. The German ATC were then alerted by the flight operations to head back as the situation came under control, Times of India report said.

The flight, 9A-118 went off the radar and was reportedly out of contact for 15 minutes. After failing to get in touch with the plane, German Air Force had sent two Eurofighter Typhoons to intercept the flight. But by the time, the fighter jets took off, the contact was restored, the officials said.

“Contact between Jet Airways flight 9W 118, from Mumbai to London’s Heathrow Airport and the local ATC, was briefly lost while flying over German airspace. Communication was safely restored within a few minutes. As a precaution, the German Air Force deployed its aircraft to ensure the safety of the flight and its guests. The flight with 330 guests and 15 crew subsequently landed at London,” a statement issued by Jet Airways had said after the mid-air scare.